The present invention concerns devices for carrying bicycles in vehicles, which have in recent years become increasingly popular, particularly for use by city dwellers who wish to ride bicycles outside the urban areas, away from the dangerous congestion of city traffic.
A number of devices have been devised for transporting motorcycles and bicycles in the back of pickup trucks. Many of these devices have involved racks which can be installed in the backs of pickup trucks, extending across the entire beds of the trucks, which may be used to transport a number of bicycles in each truck, as discussed in the background art section of U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,572 of Bowman. Racks for carrying motorcycles in the vehicles have also been devised, as discussed in the background art section of U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,139 of Bowman. Some such racks have mounted the motorcycles or bicycles by engaging their wheels, and have been relatively complex structures. Another type of apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,572 of Bowman, which is a clamping apparatus that is used to secure the front forks and skewer of a bicycle to the rail of a pickup truck bed, but which evidently requires removal of the front wheel of the bicycle. Col. 2, lines 24-28; FIG. 2.
For persons who wish to transport only one or more bicycles in the backs of pickup trucks or other vehicles, it is desirable to provide a simple clamping apparatus which may be used to secure a bicycle to the vehicle for transport, without requiring removal of the bicycle wheel, and without the complexity and expense of a rack extending across the entire width of a pickup truck bed.
Applicant has provided such a device in the form of a simple, inexpensive and easily fabricated apparatus which secures the bicycle to the vehicle by clamping the bicycle handlebars, and which does not require use of a mobile bicycle rack.